Despite claims of paying subsidy to oil consumers, the government still managed to collect Rs261.8 billion in taxes from consumers because of high oil prices in the first 10 months (July-April 2011-12) of the current fiscal year, an increase of 16.6% over the corresponding period of last financial year.
According to a senior official of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources, of the total amount, Rs51.77 billion was collected as petroleum levy and Rs210.05 billion as general sales tax (GST).
“The total collection of petroleum levy and GST is higher by Rs37.37 billion than the collection of Rs224.46 billion made in the same period of previous financial year 2010-11,” the official said.
In 10 months of 2010-11, Rs60.08 billion was collected as petroleum levy and Rs164.37 billion as GST on petroleum products.
In 2010-11, the GST rate was 17% which was curtailed to 16% in the ongoing year. “But despite the decline in GST rate, tax collection rose due to higher oil prices in the country,” the official added.
A comparison of data shows that collection of petroleum levy dropped by Rs8.31 billion in the current year, but GST collection from petroleum products increased by Rs45.68 billion.
According to a breakdown of petroleum levy collection, the government bagged Rs26.12 billion from high-speed diesel, Rs24.92 billion from petrol, Rs90 million from high octane blending component (HOBC), Rs580 million from kerosene oil and Rs60 million from light diesel oil.
In the case of GST, the collection was Rs88.21 billion from high-speed diesel, Rs38.03 billion from petrol, Rs200 million from HOBC, Rs1.96 billion from kerosene oil, Rs8.25 billion from JP-1, Rs360 million from light diesel oil and Rs73.04 billion from furnace oil.
The official said though the government had reduced the rate of petroleum levy to offset the impact of high international oil prices, it increased oil prices several times in line with the rise in global crude prices because of unrest in the Middle East.
For the ongoing financial year, the rate of petroleum levy was fixed at Rs14 for per litre of HOBC, Rs10 for per litre of petrol, Rs8 for high-speed diesel, Rs6 for kerosene oil and Rs3 for light diesel oil.
However, the government has slashed the levy to adjust the increase in oil prices and is charging Rs8.86 on per litre of petrol, Rs11.84 on HOBC, Rs5.15 on kerosene oil, Rs3 on LDO and Rs4.20 on high-speed diesel.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 13th, 2012.
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You do realise that a tax on oil means the rich are taxed more with little chance of evasion?
It is one place where I know that a Merc or Prado driving feudal or general would end up paying double the tax I do and not get an exemption.
Oil is taxed heavily in almost all countries of the world (except the USA) and all governments earn huge revenues from it. Pakistan is no exception even while it is a country desperate for resources since no one pays taxes.
Please don't give the impression that the government should reduce oil taxation and everything will be fine. How will they make up the loss of revenue? And if they cannot, the fiscal deficit will be larger requiring more borrowing to finance it, more debt, and more inflation.
And even with this taxation of oil, there are huge subsidies on oil which are a dead-weight loss on the budget. Please write about that as well. .